Coral bleaching at Terumbu Pempang Laut

On 6 Aug 2016, we visited Terumbu Pempang Laut for a coral bleaching check. However there are not many corals on this shore as compared to the rest.

We estimate about 20-30% of the hard corals are bleaching. About 20-40% of the leathery soft corals were bleaching. We estimate 20-30% of the corals have died recently.

First visit to Terumbu Pempang Laut

Last year I missed all the opportunities to visit any of the 3 submerged reefs off Pulau Hantu. I finally visited the largest one last Saturday: Terumbu Pempang Laut.

According to Jeff's compilation on meanings of island/reef names, "Terumbu" describes a reef that is visible at low tide; the meaning of "pempang" is not known, perhaps it is a corruption of the malay word "bemban" meaning fish traps; the 3 reefs were further distinguished from each depending on their relative position to land (ie "darat" near shore, "tengah" the middle reef, and "laut" the reef nearest the open sea).

We arrived to this largest and also furthest of the 3 reefs away from Pulau Hantu during sunrise. At the background is Pulau Bukom where the oil refineries are situated.

Videos from Terumbu Pempang Laut

Inspired by Andy in his Sgbeachbum blog, I decided to also do a short post purely using videos on our trip to Terumbu Pempang Laut. The difference is that my videos are raw and unprocessed, thus no nice music or captions. Nevertheless, enjoy! (I will do another post with photos later) :)

Ribbon worm from Loh Kok Sheng on Vimeo.